On Thursday’s press conference, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s office János Lázár underlined Hungary needs to urgently “reintroduce detention to migrants”. Unfortunately János mixed facts quite severely in his statement, so we felt we have to help him out a bit. We are not surprised, of course, that the Hungarian government does not know its own asylum legislation, given the speed with which many aspects of it were changed in 2016, and given their total ignorance of international legislation. The core of the detention legislation, however, dates back to 2013, so János should know better. Therefore we wrote him the open letter below.

***Dear János,

You stated that the Hungarian government has to reintroduce the detention of migrants to guarantee security. It is quite clear for us that your statement is a populist reach for voters among the far right, because Hungary has had a detention system in place for the last three years. Consequently, there’s no need to reintroduce it. What you suggested as a new policy is not “detention of migrants” but jailing everybody who applies for asylum. That’s very problematic for many reasons, but as you seem not to be totally aware of the system as it is now, we will begin today by sharing with you some basic facts about detention and reception in Hungary.

The border policy of the Hungarian government has been successful in closing the border to most people seeking international protection. As a result, refugee camps and detention centers in Hungary are relatively empty and the media frenzy has subsided. The report of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, however, shows that the number of people stopped from entering the country in irregular ways has increased since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the number of asylum requests has shrunk significantly since July when the 8 km law was introduced. This, of course, has consequences for activists and volunteers, who now operate in an environment where it is increasingly difficult to have direct contact with people seeking protection. This increases the vulnerability of people, because there is less information on which activists and volunteers can act. First and foremost, however, this has consequences in Serbia, where more and more people are getting stranded.

November was cold, as also December is threatening to be. This is particularly taxing for those who are on the move, who are without shelter and who are not provided adequately by the responsible authorities, the states. We are thinking in particular of the approximately 6500 people (including the 1000 sleeping outside in Belgrade) who are stuck in Serbia, hoping to make it across the Hungarian border. We are thinking about the people who were transferred from the functioning refugee camp in Bicske to the Körmend tent camp, and the Kiskunhalas camp containers. We are thinking of those who wait in makeshift tents by the transit zones on the Serbian-Hungarian border to be let in. The Hungarian government has further diminished the number of people allowed in per day.​With regards to asylum-matters in Hungary, November had been no less eventful than the previous months. Ahmed H. received the first verdict in his case, Migszol organized several flashmobs and demonstrations. The transit zones reduced the number of people let through in a day, police pushbacks continue along the border including some extremely violent ones and the mayor of Ásotthalom is still kicking. Finally, if you want to see the faces behind these updates, take a look also at the pictures from the 4th birthday of Migszol.

On Wednesday 7th of December Migszol received reports that people in the Bicske camp are now being moved out of the reception center to other camps.

Even if the closure of Bicske was announced until the end of the year (which we strongly oppose) we did not have any precise information on when it would take place. The people living in Bicske at the time - asylum seekers and recognised refugees - were surprised as well. That morning they saw a bus coming and the first group was taken to Körmend camp.​​This is only one example of how the Immigration Office does not take into consideration NGOs and groups working to support asylum seekers and refugees, but even more than that, it also shows the neglect towards the people who are trying to start a new life in Hungary, the people over whom these decisions are being made. In some cases, people were asked to sign a document that they agreed to be transferred to another camp but no translation was provided.

Goodbye pictures from Bicske

On Wednesday, there were around 60 people in Bicske (asylum seekers or refugees). Around 23 people were taken to Körmend, 20 to Kiskunhalas and 20 to Balassagyarmat.​Migszol condemns this action and condemns the Hungarian Immigration Office for closing the best-functioning camp in the country and place people in inhumane conditions. Körmend camp is the worst camp currently existing in Hungary (which says a lot). It is made up of tents that are completely unsuitable for people to live in, particularly in these extremely cold temperatures. It is now below 0°C which puts people’s health and even lives at great risks. Our friends that arrived in Körmend wrote to us about the conditions and sent us pictures.

They were given wood to make fire to warm themselves. What could be more dangerous in a tent camp than making fire? Only a few weeks ago a 10-year-old and his grandmother died in Greece after a camp was set on fire.

Even if the conditions are slightly better in Kiskunhalas and Balassagyarmat, they are still not good enough! The Kiskunhalas open center only has containers, which are also not close to being adequate for the harsh winter conditions.

Additionally, these camps are in remote places and segregated, which results in further exclusion of those people who are trying to start a new life here. Many had started attending different activities in Budapest (Hungarian classes, friendships, university, etc..) that they can no longer continue.

The Immigration Office never publicly explained why they want to close the Bicske camp. Migszol sees this as part of a deliberate destruction of the Hungarian asylum system and of the racist propaganda that has been spread in the last year. This goes along with the closure of Debrecen camp, and the cancellation of financial support to asylum seekers and refugees (the “integration contract”).

One explanation unofficially expressed by the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN) for the closure of the camp was that there was not enough people to be accommodated, and thus there was simply no need for it. This justification is ridiculous, as we know that around 6400 people are blocked in Serbia as a consequence of the Hungarian border management. The Hungarian authorities reduced the number of people being allowed into the transit zone at the start of November from 15 to 10 people per transit zone per day, and only during weekdays. Additionally, people crossing the borders irregularly, who are entitled to apply for asylum, are simply and almost systematically pushed back to Serbia. More than 1000 people are sleeping rough in Belgrade waiting for their “turn”. The Immigration Office’s statement can also certainly not explain why they would close the best-functioning camp in the country and not the tent camp or far-off facilities.​In these conditions, other EU countries should also take on their responsibility and be aware of the consequences of sending asylum seekers back to Hungary based on the Dublin regulation.Migszol is always demanding protection, decent support, accommodation and respectful treatment for asylum seekers and refugees.That goes way beyond, but definitely includes NOT INTENTIONALLY FREEZING PEOPLE IN TENT CAMPS:​

With our first and second situation update, we have started a series of documentation in which we report every other week about the asylum situation in Hungary. The information either comes from us, or then we collect information from people working in the ground about camps, detention centers, transit zones and the border areas and make relevant up to date information available in English.

Overview on the Balkan route and numbers

This week a lot of changes have taken place along the Balkan route. While the EU-Turkey deal got blocked by Greece as Greek courts decided Turkey is not a safe country for refugees, and the evacuation of thousands of people in Eidomeni by Greek authorities has started, Bulgaria is planning to build more fence on its border with Greece and Turkey to limit the entry of asylum seekers. The number of people continuing to arrive in Serbia - where supporting infrastructure is urgently needed - and travelling on to Hungary is growing. According to the Hungarian border police 776 people were registered to enter into Hungary under the fence, and were apprehended between May 18th and 23th. UNHCR estimates the number of people entering Hungary from 18th to 22nd at around 772 people in total. For Austria, up to date information on the numbers is unfortunately not available. In comparison to the last weeks this means that the numbers are rising.